Mobile application to conduct an auction based on physical presence

• US 10,395,307 B2
• Filed: 08/28/2017
• Issued: 08/27/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/13/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Original Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Inventors: Godsey, Sandra Lynn
• Primary Examiner(s): Palavecino, Kathleen
• Application Number:
  US15/688,226
• Publication Number:
  US 20170358026A1
• Time in Patent Office: 729 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions

Abstract

A mobile application to conduct an auction based on physical presence is provided. The mobile application may be provided by a system comprising one or more modules. A notification module may identify an item to be sold at an auction. If a pre-auction window time period has arrived, the notification module may transmit auction notification messages to a plurality of client devices located within a predefined geographical area. A bidding module may conduct the auction by providing an auction interface to the client devices within the predefined geographical area. The auction interface includes an option to bid on the item. A completion module may transmit a confirmation to a winning auction participant.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining that one or more items have changed to a specified inventory status in an inventory database;

responsive to the one or more items changing to the specified inventory status, storing the one or more items as items to be auctioned at a specified time;

detecting a plurality of location-enabled client devices located within a predefined geographical area;

transmitting electronic notifications to the plurality of location-enabled client devices located within a predefined geographical area, the electronic notifications indicating that an auction for the one or more items is to occur at the specified time; and

in response to the specified time arriving, initiating the auction by transmitting instructions that cause a display of an auction user interface to the plurality of location-enabled client devices within the predefined geographical area, the auction user interface including an option to bid on the one or more items.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of location-enabled client devices comprises a location sensor, and wherein the plurality of location-enabled client devices are detected using the location sensor.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the specified inventory status is one or more of the following:

low Quantity status or discontinued item status.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

executing a predetermined trigger to schedule the auction for the one or more items at the specified time the predetermined trigger configured for execution upon the specified inventory status of the one or more items in the inventory database being met.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the auction user interface includes a display of a direction instruction that provides directions to a location of the one or more items with respect to a current location of respective devices of the plurality of location-enabled client devices.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic notifications include an option to register for the auction.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the predefined geographical area is a physical place.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the predefined geographical area includes a vicinity surrounding the physical place.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing a bid history interface that displays bids received to a user of a particular client device among the plurality of location-enabled client devices.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic notifications is implemented as one of:

a mobile application notification, a Short Message Service (SMS) message, or a Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) message.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting a confirmation to a client device of a winning auction participant, wherein the confirmation indicates a predetermined period of time during which the winning auction participant is to purchase the one or more items.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more items to be auctioned is one of a quantity of substantially identical items in the inventory database.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

determining a number of winning auction participants based on the quantity of substantially identical items to be auctioned and bids received.

14. A system comprising:

one or more processors of a machine; and

a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the machine to perform operations comprising;

determining that one or more items have changed to a specified inventory status in an inventory database;

responsive to the one or more items changing to the specified inventory status, storing the one or more items as items to be auctioned at a specified time;

detecting a plurality of location-enabled client devices located within a predefined geographical area;

transmitting electronic notifications to the plurality of location-enabled client devices located within a predefined geographical area, the electronic notifications indicating that an auction for the one or more items is to occur at the specified time; and

in response to the specified time arriving, initiating the auction by transmitting instructions that cause a display of an auction user interface to the plurality of location-enabled client devices within the predefined geographical area, the auction user interface including an option to bid on the one or more items.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein each of the plurality of location-enabled client devices comprises a location sensor, and wherein the plurality of location-enabled client devices are detected using the location sensor.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the specified inventory status is one or more of the following:

low quantity status or discontinued item status.

17. The system of claim 14, the operations further comprising:

executing a predetermined trigger to schedule the auction for the one or more items at the specified time the predetermined trigger configured for execution upon the specified inventory status of the one or more items in the inventory database being met.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein the auction user interface includes a display of a direction instruction that provides directions to a location of the one or more items with respect to a current location of respective devices of the plurality of location-enabled client devices.

19. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium embodying instructions that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

determining that one or more items have changed to a specified inventory status in an inventory database;

responsive to the one or more items changing to the specified inventory status, storing the one or more items as items to be auctioned at a specified time;

detecting a plurality of location-enabled client devices located within a predefined geographical area;

transmitting electronic notifications to the plurality of location-enabled client devices located within a predefined geographical area, the electronic notifications indicating that an auction for the one or more items is to occur at the specified time; and

in response to the specified time arriving, initiating the auction by transmitting instructions that cause a display of an auction interface to the plurality of location-enabled client devices within the predefined geographical area, the auction interface including an option to bid on the one or more items.

20. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein each of the plurality of location-enabled client devices comprises a location sensor, and wherein the plurality of location-enabled client devices are detected using the location sensor.